A group of friends whose lives have been affected by cancer will take to the stage and perform a play to help people with the condition.

The team of five women, known as the KEAN performers, are currently rehearsing My Mother Said to perform to an audience in Lincoln as part of a week-long fundraising and awareness event.

All four members of the cast and the director have either been diagnosed with cancer or been affected by it in some way. Director Beatrice Barczak, 30, of Tempest Street, Lincoln, is currently suffering from breast cancer.

She said: "We have all got our reasons for taking part in this. We have come together to show our support for those still fighting the disease and who are on the long road to recovery.

"We really want to raise awareness for the families that are affected by a cancer diagnosis as well as the sufferers themselves.

"The play has a great story and is one that we feel will really help us achieve our goal of raising awareness around cancer."

My Mother Said is about four women from different generations of the same family. It is a story of how each member watches the next generation make the same mistakes they did. One of the family members dies of cancer during the play.

The performance, which will take place in May at an as yet unannounced venue, forms part of a week of events which will raise money for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust and MacMillan Cancer Support.

The group is also planning to hold workshops in schools, perform extracts to cancer support groups and create a piece of art.

"We have come up with a whole range of ideas which we hope will help us raise as much money as possible," added Mrs Barczak.

"We want a lot of it to be spur of the moment and without much publicity so it takes people by surprise.

"That way, they may see or hear things and think, 'Oh, I didn't know that' and that way they will have learned something."

The group is rehearsing for the play twice a week.

"We are all really excited and want to get on with performing," she added.

"We are all mucking in together to make sure we do everything as well as possible.

"We all have different skills so if we all pull them together, we will be fine."

Comments

Thank you our campaign dates are 10th of June 2013 to the 16th June 2013 the play will take place on the 15th and 16th June, we will be based in Lincoln Drill Hall all that week so please support us by just coming down with a friend x